


Fourth of July

by dearzoemurphy



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: A little angst, Anxiety, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fourth of July, M/M, Post-Canon, just the gang going to a fireworks show and all the shenanigans involved with that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-03 02:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11522295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearzoemurphy/pseuds/dearzoemurphy
Summary: The gang™ is going to see a fireworks show, but Evan has a lifelong fear of fireworks. He agrees to go, but Zoe is worried about him and his anxiety. Will everything work out okay? Will they forget the hot dogs at home? WILL JARED FIND A HUNK TO MAKE OUT WITH IN A TREE?!(I'm bad at descriptions. Lo Siento.)Takes place two to three years post-canon; Evan and Zoe are back together and sharing an apartment, Jared is in the same complex, and Alana is in the same city. A lot of fluff and a little angst.





	Fourth of July

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm bad at descriptions, but I really hope you all enjoy!!

“Come on baby, they’ll be so far away that they can’t hurt you!” Zoe said, trying to convince her boyfriend to join the group for 4th of July fireworks at the park.

Alana nodded. “Yeah! We can get you ear plugs if it’s the noise that bothers you.”

Zoe smiled. “Yes of course! And I’ll be right by your side the entire time babe,” she said as she laced her hand around Evan’s and laid her head on his shoulder.

Evan turned his head to her, resting it on top of his girlfriend’s. “Okay, I guess I’ll go. I’ll try,” he said quietly, his bottom lip quivering ever so slightly.

Zoe grinned. “Yay! I’m proud of you already,” she replied, standing up on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

Alana stood up. “Well, in that case, I’ll see you guys in a few hours! Make sure Jared knows the plan?” she asked.

Zoe nodded. “Of course, we’ll let him know.”

Alana grinned, then quickly embraced Zoe, and clapped Evan on the shoulder. “I can’t wait! I’ll bring some blankets if you guys can get food,” she said, still grinning as she walked out the door of Evan and Zoe’s apartment. After she left, Evan let out a deep and shaky breath.

Zoe looked up at him and bit her bottom lip. “Hey Ev, is everything okay? I know you just told Alana you would go, but you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” she reassured him.

Evan shook his head. “No no no! It’s okay, it’s okay, I can do this, I can do this,” he said, close to hyperventilating. 

“Well if you’re sure, just remember we can leave and go to the car anytime you want during the show, okay?” Zoe said, taking Evan’s hand in hers and squeezing it. He looked down to her and smiled shakily. Zoe grinned back.

“I love you, babe, I just want you to be happy and enjoy this holiday for the first time. But I want you to be happy and that means I’ll do anything to make sure you feel safe too, okay?” she said, creeping up on tiptoe again and giving him a lingering kiss on the lips. As they drew apart, Evan gave a true smile.

“I love you too, Zo,” he said, the slightest hint of tears appearing behind his eyes. 

Zoe smiled in return. “I’m gonna go get ready, ‘kay? Why don’t you go tell Jared the plan and ask him to pick up some ice for the coolers,” she said. Evan smiled, and Zoe gave him another quick kiss on his nose. Evan stood, frozen in place as she walked off, then took a deep breath as he grabbed his keys and walked down the hall to find Jared.

 

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A few hours later, Zoe, Evan, Jared, seven coolers, a couple of packs of hot dogs, more than a few six packs of beer, and Jared’s abnormally large American flag were packed into their sedan and they were off to the park. 

“Can we put my America day Spotify playlist on during the drive?” Jared yelled up from the backseat, where he was squished between five of the coolers.

“Jared, this is an old car, we don’t have anything to connect it to,” Zoe replied from the driver’s seat. 

“Can we at least change it from Evan’s calming nature sounds? It’s making me want to sleep and I need to get pre-drunk before I reeeeally get drunk,” he retorted.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “Sure, Jared. That’s good with you, right baby?” she said to Evan, glancing over at the passenger’s seat where he was sitting. He was shaking and frantically wiping his hands on his shorts. 

Concern crinkled across Zoe’s forehead. “Babe, are you okay?”

“YESI’mfineI’mfineI’mfinethere’sabsolutelyNOTHINGwrong,” he spat out.

Zoe put one hand on Evan’s knee. “Remember, I’ll leave with you anytime you need to. I’m here for you, okay?” she said. Evan just nodded, looking straight ahead and taking deep breaths to maintain his composure. Zoe rubbed his knee and squeezed it before putting both hands back on the wheel. The car went silent for a moment.

“Zoe, make sure you don’t give him a boner to worry about too. The poor kid’s got enough on his mind right now,” Jared said, cracking himself up.

“Oh, lay off Jared!!” Zoe yelled, reaching into the backseat to smack him as Evan turned bright red. Jared just cackled even more as he dodged Zoe’s playful swats towards him.

“Eh eh eh, both hands on the wheel Zoe. What would your Driver’s Ed teacher say?” he said, wagging a finger. Zoe flared her nostrils at him then turned fully back around.

“Fine. We’ll finish this when we get to the park,” she said as the car carrying her, her extremely anxious boyfriend, and already somewhat drunk neighbor flew down the highway.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

When they finally arrived at the park, there were so many people there that they had to go into overflow parking on the dirt.

“Great. This is fan-fucking-tastic,” Zoe grumbled as she nodded at a traffic cop and pulled her car over into the spray-painted lot. Evan had closed his eyes and was taking deep breaths. Jared was on at least his tenth beer that he chugged the rest of when he saw that they were here.

“Sweet! I’m gonna get myself a sweet, sweet hunk to make out with in a tree during the fireworks,” he said, belching as he cleared some of the coolers out of his way to get out of the car.

“Why would you want to be in a…? Nevermind, grab just the two orange coolers, we’ll come get more as we need them. Ev and I will be out in a minute, go find Alana,” Zoe told him.

“I see, need me to clear the rest of the coolers out of the backseat for ya?” Jared asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Zoe gave him a death glare. “Take the coolers. Find Alana,” she commanded.

Jared shrugged. “Have it your way. Don’t blame me when you accidentally knock a cooler over and get covered in broken glass and beer or see a hot dog bigger than Evan’s dick and start crying,” he said nonchalantly and slammed the car door closed before he could get a reply. Zoe rolled her eyes, then unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to Evan. He was beet red, presumably from a combination of Jared’s comments and anxiety.

“Hey honey, I’m proud of you for making it this far. I know it’s a lot of people, and I understand if you don’t want to get out of the car. But if you do want to get out, I’ll be with you the whole time. We all will,” she said, then paused, “Well, maybe not Jared, if he gets his way and finds his hunk,” she said, a small smile crossing her face as one also began to appear on Evan’s. He unbuckled his seatbelt as well and turned to Zoe.

“Have I told you that you look beautiful tonight?” he said quietly, his eyes sparkling and a fleeting smile playing across his lips.

Zoe beamed. “Thanks, babe. You look super handsome tonight,” she replied, putting a hand on his shoulder and slowly inching it to the back of his head. 

Evan blushed, glancing down at his red, white, and blue muscle tank. “Thanks, Zo. I think I agree,” he said with a grin. Zoe laughed so hard that she snorted, then used both hands to grab her boyfriend by the hair and pull him into a rough kiss. Zoe loosened her grip on him when they needed to come up for air.

“I love you so much, Ev,” she said, still centimeters away from her boyfriend’s face. Evan smiled and squeezed her hand as he leaned in for another, more tender kiss.

“I love you too, Zo. I’m ready to go out,” he said, with a smile. 

Zoe grinned and released him. “Alright, let’s go find Alana and Jared.”

 

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A few minutes later, Zoe had finally spotted Alana standing up and waving for them. Evan was gripping onto Zoe’s hand tightly, a layer of sweat covering his palms. As they got closer to the blanket, they spotted Jared sitting next to a man neither of them recognized.

“Guess he already found his hunk,” Zoe muttered, and Evan let out a small laugh. Zoe looked at her boyfriend and saw him with a bit of genuine happiness on his face. She let out a breath that she didn’t even know she was holding, then waved back to Alana and led Evan through the last few groups of people between them. When they reached the blanket, Alana grinned.

“Hey, guys! So the grills are over there but there’s a really long line so I figured we could wait a bit to eat?” she said. Zoe nodded in agreement.

“That’s perfectly fine! I need a beer first anyway,” she said, squeezing Evan’s hand then letting go and walking over to the coolers beside Jared. He spotted her out of the corner of his eye and gave a devilish grin.

“Hey Zoe, what took you guys so long?” he asked, leaning in closer and grinning more as Zoe leaned down to pick out a drink. She casually popped open the beer and took a large swig.

“People are going crazy, we ran into a guy carrying ten coolers who dropped them all and spent a ton of time picking them up,” she said, wiping her mouth. 

Jared frowned and gave her puppy dog eyes. “Is that reeeeally all that happened?”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “No, Evan and I also had mad sex in the trunk and were discovered by an old man who hijacked the car to open the trunk and shove a religious pamphlet in and dumped the contents of our coolers on us so we were covered in broken glass and beer and hot dogs, is that what you wanted to hear?”

Jared cackled. “Yeah, I thought something like that would happen!” he said, then he paused, “oh wait! I haven’t introduced you to my hunk-I mean, Brian yet!” he then turned to the man sitting next to him, who was sipping on a beer. 

“Zoe, this is Brian and Brian, this is Zoe. She’s my best friend’s girlfriend- and my friend too I guess,” he explained. Zoe flared her nostrils at him again, then smiled and turned to Brian to shake his hand.

“Pleasure to meet you, how do you two know each other?” she asked, grinning, purposefully to piss off Jared. He turned instantly red, as if on cue.

Brian grinned. “Nice to meet you too, and we just met. He offered me a drink and space on this blanket for the fireworks, since my friends decided to go hook up with each other in their cars,” he said. Zoe’s face contorted into an expression of something somewhat like shock, and it was Jared’s turn to grin.

“Oh well that’s...  nice, I should probably go check in with my boyfriend now,” she said as Jared was dying of a silent fit of laughter. Brian just nodded, and Zoe made her escape to the other side of the blanket with Alana and Evan. She jumped into their conversation, taking some more sips of her half empty beer.

“So you think that she’s totally into me?” Alana was asking.

Evan smiled. “Of course! Why wouldn’t she like you, you make sure to see her every time you go to that Starbucks and ask about her day, that really shows you care,” he said.

“Oh, I think I’m gonna put my phone number on the receipt the next time I go there!” she said, her eyes sparkling. 

Zoe let the two know she was there by resting her head on Evan’s shoulder, to which he jumped, then put his arm around her in apology.

“What are you guys talking about?” she asked, smiling as she took a sip of her drink.

“Alana’s got a crush on a Starbucks barista and is going to try giving her her phone number next time she goes there,” Evan explained, and Alana started blushing.

“I mean, I like her but I don’t know her that well I just see her almost every day and I’ve got so much going on I don’t have time for this really,” she said, the redness in her cheeks increasing. 

Zoe laughed lightly. “You should go for it, Alana! There’s no harm in trying,” she said, nuzzling into Evan’s neck. 

Alana grinned. “I think I’ll actually try to make the first move sometime soon! No harm in trying… right?” she said, sounding more unsure as she went along. Evan and Zoe just smiled at her, then they all looked over to Jared and Brian, who were aggressively making out next to the coolers until Brian pushed Jared down and accidentally knocked over both coolers.

Zoe snorted. “Who’s knocking over coolers and getting covered in beer now,” she mumbled, quite amused.

“Um… should we go cook those hot dogs now?” Alana asked, clearly uncomfortable. Evan was just trying to look anywhere but the blanket. 

Zoe laughed. “Yes, that sounds wonderful right about now,” she said, quickly grabbing a pack of hot dogs and running in the direction of the grills with Alana and Evan.

 

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After a thirty minute ordeal of waiting in line for the grills, finally reaching them, then having to have Zoe body check a man trying to steal their hot dogs by throwing bread on their grill so birds would flock to it, the three returned to their blanket with a plate full of hot dogs. Jared and Brian were nowhere to be found. Alana sighed.

“I hope no one took our stuff,” she said, worried.

“I hope no one took our booze,” Zoe muttered, “if our stuff isn’t there though, we have five more coolers Jared insisted on taking.”

Alana grinned. “Nope! Nothing’s missing, I’ve got the buns and condiments,” she said, closing one of the coolers and putting everything on top.

Evan set the plate down next to everything else, and they sat down to eat, wordlessly grabbing paper plates, buns, dogs, and relish. Zoe grabbed another beer, and they all scarfed down their food, not realizing how hungry they had been. After they’d all eaten at least one hot dog, Alana finally spoke up.

“Where even are Jared and Brian? Aren’t they as hungry as we are?” she asked.

Zoe finished guzzling her beer then laughed. “I think they’re eating enough ass right about now,” she said, cackling.

Alana gasped and Evan turned bright red.   
“Zoe! Maybe you should lay off the alcohol for a minute,” Alana yelped, the top of her ears turning pink. Evan just nodded, but he was trying to suppress a smile. Zoe just grinned in their direction, then hopped up to throw her bottle and plate away.

“Anyone have any other trash?” she asked. Evan and Alana handed her their plates, and Evan reached for a beer then handed Alana a water. Zoe quickly scurried off to find a trash can, avoided stepping on a squirrel, then walked back to the blanket to find a woman she didn’t know sitting down next to Alana, and the two were engaged in conversation. Evan looked slightly uncomfortable sitting across from them but brightened when he saw Zoe.

“Oh hey, here’s Zoe, we should probably go walk to the bathrooms together! So we don’t get lost!” he said. Alana’s eyes widened and she shot Evan a look of hatred, while the other woman simply smiled and nodded. He bounded over to Zoe and took her hand.

“What’s going on?” she asked quietly as they walked away.

“You’ll never believe this, but Alana’s barista recognized her and sat down with us,” he said, “I just wanted to give them privacy.”

Zoe grinned. “That’s great! I hope it works out. Because if it doesn’t, then we left her stranded alone,” she said, a line of worry crossing her face. 

Evan stiffened. “Yeah! Yeah. Of course, she’ll be fine. Yeah,” he said.

Zoe cracked up. “Oh my god it’s okay! I’m sure she’ll be fine too,” she said.

The pair wandered out of the crowd and into the forest. The gentle noises of the forest life soothed both of them as they walked silently down a trail, hand in hand. The sun was setting, turning the sky a beautiful combination of blues, pinks, and purples. The trees started to thin, and the couple reached the end of the trail, and the edge of the park’s valley. They found a large oak and sat down with their backs up against it, looking out over the valley and at the sunset. Zoe took a deep breath, and as she exhaled, leaned further into Evan. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, gripping onto her shoulder and waist, holding onto her as if she would disappear if he didn’t. She leaned her head on his shoulder and wiggled her arms just enough to get them out of Evan’s grip to return his embrace. The couple sat, still in silence, just listening to the sounds of nature, watching the sunset, and holding each other as tight as possible. 

“Ev, I’m so proud of you,” Zoe said, looking up to lazily placing a soft kiss on the crook of his neck.

“Really? The fireworks haven’t even started yet,” Evan responded.

Zoe placed another lazy kiss, further up his neck. “Yeah. We’ve been in a crowd for several hours and you’ve been completely fine. You’ve even talked to two new people! I’m just so happy for you. And proud of you,” she said, finishing with another kiss on his jaw. 

Evan gave a radiant smile, one that when Zoe saw, her heart melted and she couldn’t help herself. She craned her neck up further and kissed him tenderly. When Evan pulled away, Zoe thought he was going to say something, but instead, he placed one hand on the tree trunk and turned to gently push Zoe into it. He then leaned forward and passionately kissed her back, his tongue running along her bottom lip. Zoe was about to respond physically, but the couple was interrupted by a loud crash from a nearby tree. Evan and Zoe both jerked their heads up and turned to look and see what had caused the crash. All they heard was insane cackling.

“Ha! Guess who’s joined Evan in being an acorn! Ha!” they heard from the direction of the tree. Both of them knew exactly who was coming around the corner, but neither person moved from their current, somewhat compromising position.

“I fell out of a tree… ha! At least I didn’t break my arm! Take that, Hansen! And it was because I got some!” Jared yelled as he stumbled out of the forest and almost right on top of Evan and Zoe. Upon seeing the couple, he shrieked.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS DOING OUT HERE?!” he screamed. Evan froze at the sight of Jared in his boxers, and Zoe started cracking up.

“We were going to do the same thing you just did before you so rudely interrupted us,” she replied, innocently smiling up at him. Evan automatically turned tomato red, while Zoe remained stoic, still smirking.

Jared threw his hands up. “Well then! I was just taking a break, I’m leaving! I’m leaving!” He then turned and ran back into the woods, but they weren’t sure exactly what to.

Zoe took the opportunity to take a look at her watch, and then at the sky. Evan moved a few inches away from her and turned his head around.

“We should probably get back to Alana and the blanket, the fireworks will be starting in a bit,” Zoe said.

Evan had a look of disappointment flash across his face but then smiled. “Yes of course,” he said.

Zoe tried not to laugh but eventually cracked up. Evan’s ears turned bright red.

“What is it?” he asked, somewhat sadly.

“I’m sorry babe, you just seemed really disappointed that we had to stop making out. I’m sorry! We can continue this really soon, don’t worry baby,” Zoe said, grinning and trying not to laugh anymore. 

All of Evan turned bright red. “O- okay. That sounds- that sounds great! I mean, that sounds great,” he stammered out.

Zoe stood up, then held out a hand to her boyfriend. Evan took it and stood up, and before he could even dust himself off, Zoe threw her arms around his neck and locked her lips onto his. He wrapped his arms as tight as he could around her waist, pulling her so close that there was no space between them. Zoe gasped for air and loosened her grip on Evan, breaking the kiss. She then touched her forehead to his.

“I love you so much, baby. Remember that I’ll be here. And I’ll leave with you anytime you need to,” she said.

Evan responded only by sealing the gap between them once more, his tongue fighting its way into Zoe’s mouth. Their tongues clashed as Evan’s ran across the roof of her mouth, then as he moved it back into his own mouth, he placed a small bite on Zoe’s bottom lip. When they moved apart, Zoe looked up into Evan’s eyes, biting her own lip.

“Are we going to have to leave early for a reason other than your anxiety?” she asked innocently.

Evan blushed deeply. “Potentially.”

 

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Zoe and Evan reached the blanket in time just in time to hear park rangers yelling at rowdy children through megaphones, telling them to sit down before the show started, for everyone’s safety. The couple slid onto the blanket quickly before a park ranger could yell at them too for being a safety hazard. Zoe looked over to say something to Alana but saw she was mid-make out session with her barista. She grinned, then looked back to Evan, who had a slightly uncomfortable look on his face.

“Well, it looks like everything worked out just fine here,” Zoe said, taking Evan’s hand in hers and shifting to lean against him. 

Evan turned his head and placed it on Zoe’s, closing his eyes and simply enjoying being close to her. Zoe pushed herself even closer so that she was almost entirely in Evan’s lap. The couple sat there for several minutes, enjoying the summer breeze and the presence of the other. Their bliss was interrupted by a loud bang, and a flash of light. Zoe sat straight up, while Evan jumped what seemed like several feet in the air. Alana broke off the kiss she was in and looked up.

“The fireworks are starting!” she gasped, an almost childlike wonder filling her eyes. The purple haired woman sitting beside her smiled and placed her arm around Alana’s shoulder. 

Alana looked to her other side where Evan was shaking and Zoe was trying to comfort him. 

“Hey, guys! You made it just in time!” she exclaimed. 

Zoe smiled. “Yes! And we know Jared is alive so that’s good I guess,” she said, trailing off. She turned her attention back to her boyfriend, who had almost stopped shaking. Zoe continuously rubbed small circles on Evan’s hand, her other arm wrapped around his back. 

“That is good! I don’t need to know any more than that,” Alana said, but was cut off by another firework being shot. 

Evan jumped again at the noise and made a small whimpering noise.

Zoe leaned in closer so her forehead was touching his temple. “Baby, it’s okay if this is too much I’ll make sure you get back home safely. You’re okay, you’re okay. They can’t hurt you from where we are,” she whispered soothingly, still rubbing circles on his sweaty palm.

Evan just nodded, turning his head towards Zoe. “They can’t hurt me. I’m okay. I want to try and stick it out. I took my meds,” he said, breath slightly shaky. 

Zoe looked up into his eyes, and just gripped his hand tighter and pulled him closer. “Alright. Just let me know if you need anything,” she said, putting her head on top of his as he leaned onto her shoulder. Evan screwed his eyes shut as the next short series of fireworks lit up the sky. Zoe kept comforting him, and soothingly whispered into his ear to help him stay calm. He surprised her though by opening his eyes and looking up slightly near the end of the chain. The rate the fireworks were being shot off at was increasing, but Evan seemed to be getting more comfortable and less anxious with them. Zoe had stopped talking him through it, but still was rubbing circles on his arms and backs of his hands. An especially big and loud one exploded in the sky, causing Evan to jump slightly, but he didn’t look away. Zoe smiled as she watched him watching the fireworks, enjoying the look of pure joy and wonder on his face. She leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on top of his head. He looked up at her and grinned, then leaned his head sideways into Zoe’s shoulder.

“Thanks for helping me through this. I never knew what I’d been missing out on,” he said.

Zoe smiled back down at him as he continued watching the display. “Of course baby. Of course. I love you so much,” she said, moving to stroke his hair as they both looked up to the brilliantly lit night sky.

 

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The show finished, resulting in wild cheers from the crowd gathered in the park. That seemed to upset Evan even more than the almost illegally large finale fireworks. Alana stood up, still holding her crush’s hand. 

“This was so much fun, you guys! I’m so proud of you Evan,” she said as she leaped over to her friends and threw her arms around Evan. 

“Good to see you, Alana,” Zoe said as her friend moved to embrace her.

“Good to see you too! We should do something like this again sometime soon,” Alana suggested. 

Zoe smiled and nodded. “Great idea! Also, I’m not sure I was formally introduced to your friend...“ she said.

Alana gasped. “Oh! Of course. Zoe, this is Heather. Heather, this is Zoe! She’s one of my good friends,” she explained, introducing the two. They stepped forward to shake hands, and Zoe grinned.

“Nice to meet you!”

“You too,” Heather said, smiling softly.

Zoe stepped closer. “Treat her well, okay? Or we’re gonna have a problem,” she whispered, softly but fiercely. 

Heather just smirked and nodded. “Of course I will. It’s good to know she has such good friends,” she said as she stepped back to take Alana’s hand.

“Bye guys! Don’t forget to find Jared before you leave!” Alana called back, waving as the pair walked away. The two smiled and waved back, but once they were out of view, Zoe cringed. Evan looked over and gave a concerned look.

“Is everything okay Zoe?” he asked.

“Jared. We’ve gotta go find Jared,” she grumbled, annoyance seeping into her voice. 

“You called?” a voice came from behind the pair. Evan shrieked, and Zoe whipped around. 

“Jared?! Have you been here this whole time?” Zoe asked, accusatory. Jared just cackled.

“Nope! Just showed up right in time. I saw Alana’s got a hottie to go home with though,” he said, still grinning. Zoe screwed her face into a frown, while Evan moved to start collecting the coolers and blankets.

“Just help roll up the damn blankets and carry the coolers to the car. And don’t tell us any details about all the hot sex you had,” she commanded as she picked up a cooler Evan slid over to her. 

Jared opened his mouth to say something, but thought better and shut it, grumbling as he picked up a half folded blanket.

Once everything was packed up, the trio trudged through the chaotic crowd to get back to their car. The coolers and blankets were stuffed in the trunk, and Evan, Zoe, and Jared all clambered into their respective seats. 

“Wake me up when we get back home, I think my hangover is already starting to hit me,” Jared said, buckling the middle seat belt and leaning against a still full cooler. Zoe rolled her eyes, then put the key in and started the car. After the stressful ordeal of getting out of the parking lot, they were finally on the highway once more. Jared was fast asleep, soothed by the sounds and the constant rumble of driving down the road, and Evan looked to be joining him in unconsciousness soon. Zoe reached over and ruffled his hair.

“I’m so proud of you, babe,” she said, smiling sweetly.

Evan looked at her and beamed. “Thank you, Zo. For getting me out here. And getting me through it,” he said.

Zoe smiled back. “I’ll wake you up when we reach the house, you go ahead and start getting some sleep,” she said. Evan just nodded, reclined his chair back slightly, and leaned against the window. 

Zoe quickly glanced to her close-to-asleep boyfriend, then focused back on the road. 

“What a day,” she mumbled, still smiling as they drove down the highway and back to their apartment complex.

 

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**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed, please leave any thoughts, constructive criticism, or opinions down below! Thanks for reading!


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